What was the political structure of the Nabataeans Community?
Few specifics are known about the Nabataean system of government, although it seems that they transitioned from a loose confederation of tribes led by chiefs into a kingdom shortly after forming permanent settlements around the third century B.C. The first known Nabataean king was King Aretas I (around 169–168 B.C.). The names of several other monarchs are recorded on coins and in some inscriptions, and their chronology has been reconstructed. A Western writer of the second century B.C. observed a legal system capable of dealing with international parties and also praised the democratic character of the Nabataean king. In A.D. 106 the Roman emperor Trajan annexed the kingdom of the Nabataeans, apparently without armed struggle and with little change in the daily lives of the inhabitants. The administration and military defense of the new province were centered in Petra and the northern town of Bostra, which is today in southern Syria. A major earthquake in A.D. 363 marked the end of Pe
